ADVANCES IN BALLISTIC PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SAINT-GOBAIN SAPPHIRE TRANSPARENT ARMOR COMPOSITES

摘要

Saint-Gobain has developed a ceramic transparent armor composite using our Edge-defined Film-fed Growth (EFG~(TM)) Sapphire crystals to defeat various ballistic projectiles. The high strength, high hardness, and good transparency in the visible and infrared spectra make sapphire an ideal choice for transparent armor applications. The composites are commercially available in large sizes (greater than 300 mm wide and 775 mm long) with substantial weight and thickness improvements over classical laminated glass solutions. This paper will discuss the properties and benefits of using Saint-Gobain sapphire transparent armor composites, along with the ballistic results, composition thickness, and areal density for defeating single shot and multi-hit ballistic results of armor piercing rounds (up to and including STANAG Level IV), and Fragment Simulated Projectiles.